Milletts owner Blacks Leisure tumbles 9% as takeover talks end

Blacks Leisure, the owner of the Blacks Outdoor and Milletts chains, has slumped 9% after it admitted takeover talks had ended.

The company - which said in October it was in preliminary discussions with a number of possible purchasers - said none of the proposals were "sufficiently compelling" to carry on talks. Potential bidders were thought to include privately owned Go Outdoors, Lloyds Development Capital and Lion Capital, while Mike Ashley's Sports Direct owns a 14.46% stake. Blacks said it will now concentrate on its turnaround programme, with a reasonable trading statement in January giving it confidence about the outlook.

Sadly, news the talks had been abandoned has seen the shares tumble 3p to 35.5p.